Propagation simulation for the prediction of LMCS/LMDS coverage

Work in progress on a propagation simulator is described. This simulator is being written for the purpose of predicting coverage for LMCS/LMDS systems in suburban environments. Preliminary coverage predictions are given based on a randomly generated environment database. These predictions suggest the relative importance of various factors in determining coverage, including the use of specular reflections, the effect of rain, and the effect of system design choices such as power margin, the use of cell overlap and on-channel repeaters. The ongoing verification of the simulator using experimental power measurements is summarized, as well as resulting changes made to the simulator to date.